Are you getting enough?

Even though I am not doing radio full-time anymore, I still do “show prep”. For me, prepping consists of looking at local news, national news, looking at what’s “trending”, and just living life. I look for things that might be something my listeners would be able to relate to, find interesting, or react to. For example, on my way to work today I was passed by an elderly couple in a car that had two bumper stickers. The first said “Make love, not war” and next to it was a sticker that said, “Get married and do both!”

While surfing the internet this week, I came across the results of a survey I found interesting. People were asked to name the top things that the do not get enough of. I truly believe that everyone can relate to the items on this list, but was surprised that one thing was suspiciously absent from the top ten. Here is the list:

Top Ten Things We Feel We Don’t Get Enough Of

1. Sleep

No surprise here. Even on days when I get to “catch up” on sleep, I am exhausted. I work midnights for my full-time job now, so it’s even harder to get quality sleep. I sleep (or try to sleep) while the world is awake. When my neighbor decides to mow his grass at 3pm on a Sunday, it’s no big deal to him or the rest of the world – they are up. I, on the other hand, am sleeping in preparation for a night at work.

It is interesting, though, that people who work days responded to this and felt the same way. As someone who works as a sleep tech, it makes me wonder why so many people are not getting enough sleep. Are the suffering from insomnia, sleep apnea, or some other sleep disorder? Whatever the issue, sleep sits at #1 on the list.

2. Vacations

I can relate to this! My wife and I took a vacation to Florida a year ago. That was the first real vacation I’d been on in years. I understand that there are many factors that may play into this. Money, of course, is probably the biggest factor. No money – no vacation – it is that simple! One of the factors for me was not having enough time to take at work. Yes, I do get vacation time, but in my line of work, if there are no patients, I am sent home. Because I cannot afford to not get a full check, I find myself dipping into my vacation time and using it to “fill” my check. I know that this is probably happening in other fields, too. It is a proven fact that employees perform better when they get some time to rest and relax. How sad is it that many employees never get to actually take the time to do so.

3. Disposable Income

Money! I am reminded of the old Soupy Sales joke, “Money can’t buy happiness. That’s ok, I’ll rent it!” I am shocked that this wasn’t the number one thing. It wasn’t too long ago there was an article I read about these millionaires who were asked if they were happy. The majority of these guys said they would need three times as much money to actually be happy! Yeah, that’s right, millionaires need more millions! Go figure!

There are plenty of stories and proof that winning the lottery is not all it is cracked up to be. Despite that, millions of people spend tons of money hoping to win the Mega-Millions or Powerball jackpots. You know what? I don’t need millions. I would just like to be able to live, with a little bit of money in a savings account. That would be nice….

4. Exercise

Yep. Me too! I hate that gym memberships are so expensive. We have one just down the block from our house, but it’s pretty pricey. The cheap gym is 20-30 minutes away, but then the problem becomes finding time in the schedule to do it. Living in Michigan, the weather doesn’t necessarily always cooperate either.

This is also true for me.

5. Sunlight

I found this to be an interesting entry to the list. It is not surprising, many of my patients have a Vitamin D deficiency. The current statistic says that about 40% of people suffer from a lack of Vitamin D. With winter, we see a rise in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) because of a lack of sunlight. This seems like something many of us have no control over. Many people live in areas where there is not much sunlight, so I guess we just need to chew those Vitamin D gummies and tan when we can.

6. Sex

Something tells me that even if we are getting a lot of this … we would still feel like we need more! Human nature.

7. Salary

Now this confuses me a bit. We’ve already seen “money” on the list – back at #3. Here it is again. I can understand it. People in the country are often underpaid for the work they do. I know people who haven’t seen a raise in almost 15 years! There seems to be a lack of “cost of living” raises…and the cost of living continues to rise. What is truly sad is that when companies are giving out 3%-5% raises, the cost of medical insurance is going up, too. So in reality, there really is no raise at all.

8. Good Luck

This is a tough one for me to understand and I think it is subjective. I say that because I think the definition of “luck” means something to every individual. For some, good luck means having the right numbers in the lottery. For some, luck is a near miss on the highway. For others, it is a success or a failure that is brought on by chance, rather than a person’s own actions.

I have always loved Thomas Jefferson’s quote: “I am a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

I guess if you wanted more luck – a person would want more good luck than bad luck.

9. Fresh Air

I can totally relate to this. There have been many days I have sat in an office, the radio control room, or somewhere inside and looked out the window and a picture perfect spring or fall day! You long to be outside! One of the reasons I love golfing is that I can get out in nature! I am a horrible golfer, but being out on the course enjoying the fresh air is worth every missed putt and terrible tee shot!

In the summer, I love to be able to sit on the front porch, drinking coffee, and reading a book while the birds are singing and the sun is rising. There is nothing quite like fresh air!

10. Fun

As we get older, we seem to have less and less fun. This is sad. If life has gotten to the point where it is all about work, paying bills, and stress, then we need to find a way to change this! Laugh! Have fun! Dance! Talk to others. Play games. When life stops being fun … what more do you have to live for? They say if you don’t make life fun – then that is no life at all. My friend, Jay Trachman, always said “Remember, having fun is good for you!” It sure is …

What item is missing?

Time. While the top ten items listed are all good, I feel that “time” is something we all complain about not having enough of! “Time is valuable, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Time is wealth and unlike money, when it is gone, you cannot replace it.” How many times have you wished for one more hour, one more day, five more minutes?

Maybe you need more time to finish a project for work. Maybe you want more time before bed to spend with your kids. Maybe you need more time to get somewhere. Maybe you want more time for yourself – “me time” – to read a book or write a letter. Maybe you want more time with a loved one who passed away. Maybe you just want more time because you are faced with your own mortality. They say “time matters” – it does, and I’d like more of it!

“Nothing is a precious as time”.

What are YOU not getting enough of? Is this list accurate for you? I’d love to hear from you.